


Silenced Nightingale

by koalala1031



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Blood, Character Death, Character Study, F/F, F/M, Gore, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kaede’s twin sis is an OC (sorta), Multi, Murder, NDRV3 Spoilers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Game Personalities (New Dangan Ronpa V3), Spoilers, Spoilers For The Entire Game, Tags May Change, Tragedy, Violence, more like a fuck-it, not really a fix-it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 06:56:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12316032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalala1031/pseuds/koalala1031
Summary: Nightingale. A songbird that commonly sings an innocent song of loveExcept three:One sings a righteous song of hatredOne sings a distrustful song of paranoiaOne sings a hopeless song of obsessionThis is a story of three people who hated the world.





	1. Prologue: A Marionette in the Bloodbath Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally part of Inktober for Writers 2017 on Tumblr – Day 9: Strings

Being the mastermind of this season’s Danganronpa, Tsumugi sure is ecstatic to see more bloodbath this time around. Nothing feels better than controlling the marionettes on the bloodbath stage— _her_ bloodbath stage to kill each other.

The new protagonist, Akamatsu Kaede, the SHSL Pianist, is already a fan-favorite, even though the season has only just started.

It would be a shame if the brand new headstrong, optimistic sweetheart of a protagonist is killed off early only to be replaced by the same ol’ plain, insecure, uninteresting guy—like the SHSL Detective Saihara Shuuichi over there—who has always been the protagonist archetype ever since the very first installment of Danganronpa, right?

And there’s another fan-favorite—Amami Rantarou, the amnesiac SHSL Survivor, survivor of the last two seasons, is now participating again for the third time.

It would be a shame if the Mr. SHSL Survivor dies first, wouldn’t it? Then his “talent” is going to be ironic.

It would be a shame if those two fan-favorites are the first ones to go, right?

But it happened.

The feeling of strings of the marionettes being connected to her fingers is so orgasmic.

The feeling of fiddling Akamatsu Kaede’s hands into throwing the shot put is so arousing.

The feeling of throwing the shot put by herself right onto Amami Rantarou’s head is so titillating.

The feeling of using the strings connected to her fingers to strangle the poor, sweetie Akamatsu Kaede is a big turn on.

Being the mastermind of this season’s Danganronpa really is a feeling Tsumugi could never get enough of.

She didn’t regret anything.

She didn’t regret joining Team Danganronpa.

She didn’t regret falling into Amami Rantarou’s seduction into becoming a marionette on the bloodbath stage which was Danganronpa V2.


	2. A Girl with a Hollow Smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, fUCKINH FINALLY! I’M ACTUALLY POSTING THIS!!!   
> Enjoy~!

“Wow, Amami-kun, you’re so lucky!”

“Man, I wish I could be like you!”

“I bet you’re gonna grow up to be just like your father!”

“Good looks, intelligence, popularity, talent... Seriously, is there anything you  _ don’t _ have?!”

_ Is there anything I don’t have? Well, a lot, really. Happiness, a functional family, ability to choose my own destiny and cut ties with that damned show and that damned bastard... _

Rantarou groaned as he kept running through the hallway, ignoring all the eyes staring at him. He didn’t care anymore. He was beyond sick of hearing all of those superficial praises. All of those were meant for the eldest son of Amami Souichirou, whom people expected to grow up to be a famous fictional character in the fictional world of Danganronpa. No one cared about the regular middle schooler named Amami Rantarou.

Even Midori, his own sister who innocently thought all parents loved their children.

Even Tsumugi— _ especially _ Tsumugi, his best friend who pretty much lived and breathed Danganronpa. Who worshipped Enoshima Junko, the ultimate SHSL Despair who had seduced Tsumugi into becoming despair herself, as if she was her deity figure.

And especially that Souichirou bastard, with all of his bullshit talk about “continuing his legacy” and “bringing out the best hope for everyone”. Just because he was a slightly famous “survivor” in his younger days. Just because he was a division head in Team Danganronpa. He actually cared more about satisfying the world’s disgusting desire for bloodbath than the well-being of a boy who’s supposedly his own son.

Amami Rantarou might as well not have existed in this world...

Still with those thoughts haunting him, Rantarou kept running upstairs until he arrived at the empty rooftop.

Well, almost empty.

He saw a blonde girl, standing there by herself.

Rantarou shook his head and made up his mind. If he was quiet enough, the girl wouldn’t notice him. Probably.

He stepped up to the edge of the rooftop and inhaled deeply.

He gazed into the sunset sky. Not too bad for the last thing he would see in his life.

He looked down to the ground, seeing more people down there. He gulped his saliva and kept staring at the ground that felt like it kept getting further the more he looked.

_ Ugh, what’s stopping you, coward?! Just jump already! _ the voice in his head scolded.

Rantarou clenched his jaws. Should he wait until all those people left? Or should he listen to that voice?

No one would miss Amami Rantarou anyway. People only cared about the eldest son of Amami Souichirou.

Rantarou inhaled deeply and as he was about to jump, someone’s voice stopped him.

“Do you want to die?”

A girl’s mesmerizing voice was heard from behind him, causing him to step down in surprise. So much for wanting to die.

Rantarou gulped and turned to look at the girl who called him. In front of him, he saw a girl he  _ somewhat _ knew of, from her distinct porcelain face and lilac eyes.

“...Akamatsu?” Rantarou blurt out.

No. It couldn’t be  _ that _ Akamatsu. Her eyes and her expression also looked so... dull. Unlike Akamatsu’s shimmering amethyst eyes that were full of optimism and hope.

“You know me...?” Akamatsu asked, her voice sounded just as sweet as before.

Well, he knew of her, but he didn’t “know” her. He only knew Akamatsu Kaede, the talented young pianist who had her first live concert in Budokan together with Kaya, her violinist twin sister, when they were only eleven. The talented young pianist whose presence and piano performances always brought smiles and happiness to people. The talented young pianist who was formerly high-profile until she went on a hiatus because... reasons he didn’t know the details of. And that was last year.

“Um, sorta...?” Rantarou replied. “People here talk about you a lot.”

Rantarou had heard all sorts of things about Akamatsu Kaede, be it the best ones or the worst ones. Many people praised her works, but there were also people talking about some rumors about a scandal that might have driven her off of her career entirely. And the latter had been more prominent in the past year.

“’Kay, so you’re really Akamatsu, right?” Rantarou asked again.

“Mm-hmm.” Kaede nodded.

“Why are you here?” Rantarou asked. He was expecting some cliché speech about “not giving up” and “things will be better” and so on, basically bullshit he would hear from a stereotypical Danganronpa protagonist. Bullshit he would hear from the “Akamatsu Kaede” he knew of, not the empty and hollow girl in front of him right now. “Yeah, I do wanna die. Got a problem with it?”

“I’m here because... I want to die too.” Kaede only smiled at him, even though her smile seemed so... fake.

Rantarou’s eyes grew wide in surprise. “...Eh?”

He looked into Kaede’s hollow eyes that weren’t smiling, even though her lips were. Rantarou then averted his gaze as if to avoid that void stare of hers. “Then why did you stop me?” he asked coldly.

Kaede’s smile faded. “I want to die, but... not in a world like this... Not in a world that would smile over my death.”

Rantarou noticed... a drop of tear flowing from the corner of her eye. For a moment, he forgot about wanting to die. This girl in front of him was barely even alive. To think that people would actually smile over someone’s death was just... fucked up.

But it was also plausible.

And that was the worst part.

People might not smile at the death of a regular schoolboy Amami Rantarou, but they would smile at the death of whatever Super High School Level future Amami Rantarou would be. They might not smile at his death if he died right now, but they would smile if he died later in Danganronpa.

“Oh... I understand...” he said.

He wished he couldn’t even say something like that.

“You do?” Kaede sounded slightly surprised, but her empty expression hardly changed.

“Pretty much. I mean, with something like Danganronpa being popular worldwide, some people can be like that.”

Kaede gritted her teeth the moment she heard Danganronpa. She never wanted to hear that damned show’s name. “You... know of Danganronpa?” she asked.

“Know of” was an understatement. Rantarou practically lived and breathed Danganronpa all his life. He breathed it so much to the point his chest was stuffed with it. To the point his body and mind were poisoned by it. He never felt like he was his own self because his old man kept forcibly forming him into an “ideal” Super High School Level student—his fake self everyone else saw him as. “I hate it...” he muttered, clenching his jaws.

Kaede let out her hollow smile again. “Me too,” she chuckled. “Glad to find someone who shares the same feelings as me.”

Rantarou blinked in surprise. “Huh...” He didn’t expect that reply from her. Someone like her seemed more like the type who would enjoy Danganronpa.

Rantarou then sat down on the rooftop, staring at the sunset again, while Kaede was still standing in the same spot.

“Beautiful, isn’t it...?” Kaede sighed dreamily. “The sunset...”

“Mm-hmm...”

“I wish... I could just detach myself from this world... from humanity...” she said.

_ Same... _ Rantarou thought. He also wished he was born in a different world where there was no Danganronpa. He wished he could just gaze into the sunset forever, without worrying about anyone or anything…

But then someone opened the door and entered the rooftop. “Oneechan,” she called.

“Hm?” Kaede looked at that girl. “Kaya-chan...” She blinked in surprise.

Rantarou looked at her, recognizing the similar lilac eyes and slightly darker shade of blonde, except her hair was braided.

“Oneechan, it’s already late...” Kaya told her. “Mom and Dad would be worried if we don’t go home soon.”

Kaede then reluctantly looked at Rantarou and said, “Goodbye for now...”

“Sure...” Rantarou replied without looking at her in return.

Kaede stepped away from Rantarou and went through the door with Kaya. After the two were gone, Rantarou continued watching the sunset.

Even if he did jump, he probably wouldn’t be reborn at all—let alone in the kind of world he wanted.

Even if his death as a regular middle schooler would displease the people around him for a short while, he would just be a failed product and that Souichirou bastard would use Midori instead.

Because in the end, this world only cared about their own disgusting desire for bloodbath.

 

* * *

 

The two girls went downstairs from the rooftop, but Kaya tried to keep herself distant. Kaede however, didn’t bother to try keeping up with her.

Even in the train, they stood apart from each other.

Even after they arrived at the station, they were still walking apart from each other.

“H-Hey, uh...” Kaya spoke without looking at her sister’s eyes. “I... Still haven’t forgiven you about the thing with Naomi-chan, okay?”

“I know...” Kaede answered with a weak voice. She had no right to protest because she deserved all the mistreatments not only from Kaya, but also everyone else around her. “Hey, Kaya-chan?”

“What?”

“Do you really think that Kurosawa is really what she seems like?” Kaede asked. “Don’t you ever think that she’s just been using you all this time?”

“No!” Kaya insisted, even though her heart felt otherwise. Even though her head felt like remembering the times when Naomi and her group seemed like they were laughing at her, not with her. “E-Even if she’s not really a good friend, that doesn’t justify what you did to her!”

“You’re right. It doesn’t...” Kaede replied again.

“Then why?! Why did you do it?!” Kaya scolded her, her eyes were moist because of her tears.

“I just... wanted to protect you...” Kaede continued. “You don’t have to forgive me... Just be aware that Kurosawa isn’t a good friend for you... Please...”

Kaya only gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to say a word anymore and just continued walking until they both arrived in their home.

“We’re home...” Kaya greeted with a gentle voice, as she opened the door. Kaede followed suit as they both put their shoes on the same shoe rack, but on different spots.

They both then went to their separate rooms. Kaede threw herself onto the futon, despite the pain on her back. She lamented the lack of the bunk bed she used to share with Kaya. The lack of desk for her to study. The lack of musical note-shaped night lamp. The lack of glow in the dark stickers they used to put together in their shared closet and walls.

She looked around her room now, where the only objects were a futon, a plain wooden closet for clothes, and a stack of books on the floor.

She knew she brought it upon herself.

She knew what she did was wrong.

What she couldn’t understand was... why wasn’t it wrong when a “character” in Danganronpa did it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While the more common depiction of pregame Kaede is a hardcore DR fan, I also kinda wanna try a rather different take by making her a hardcore DR hater instead, while still making her scummy and twisted in her own way.
> 
> But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter ^^ ~~and I also hope I can finish this entire fic I’ve been wanting to write since the dawn of time uehejsuhxishgbjsrsudjbsund~~

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey, pre-canon Amashiromatsu. The kind of content I’ve been craving so much for, but there aren’t enough of it, so I just kinda decided to make one myself uwu


End file.
